by Marci Bolden
“Don’t let Eva hear that,” Rene warned, tucking the addresses in her suit pocket.
“Eva may not like it, but her ex-boyfriend is an asset the agency can’t afford to lose just because their relationship didn’t last. I’ll be back before the afternoon briefing.” Holly headed for the door.
Jack took a moment to look between the women at the front desk before following Holly out into the morning sun. “Want to enlighten me on Mama Bear?”
She pushed the button on a remote, and a sleek black sedan chirped in response. “Rene was with Witness Protection until last year when she lost a team member. She resigned from her unit right after. Blamed herself.”
He nodded. “It’s hard losing a team member.”
Holly opened the car door and slid in behind the wheel. “She was responsible, and she knows that.”
“Well, that’s—”
“The harsh reality of being the leader.” She started the car and gripped the steering wheel. “You’re accountable for your team—the good and the bad.”
He watched her as she backed out of the spot. “You’re speaking from experience.”
She didn’t answer. She didn’t need to; he could see the guilt play across her face.
3
“Fredrickson is angry,” Holly said as she drove across town.
“It would be faster to take Fourth Street,” Tarek offered, motioning toward the upcoming intersection.
She smirked. The section of town where the Fredricksons resided was a hotspot for locally owned restaurants and other businesses, which made the population multiply like fruit flies during the lunch hour. “No, it wouldn’t,” she simply stated.
“Yes, it would.”
“No. It wouldn’t. Fourth is bumper-to-bumper this time of day. It’s faster to go around. As I was saying,” she continued when he didn’t argue. “He’s angry and rightfully so. He was hoping to see results by now, and I haven’t been able to produce anything more than the police have. He’s just reacting to the situation. Tread lightly and show him some patience and understanding.”
Jack creased his brow. “Good plan, Austin. Maybe I’ll even ask him some questions related to the case. You know I’m a cop, right?” he teased. “I’ve actually made it all the way to detective. Now, it doesn’t happen often, but every now and then, the department even lets me interview people.”
She laughed quietly. “Sorry. I do respect your skills and experience, Detective.”
“Good to know. I respect your skills and experience as well, Private Detective.”
“Investigator. Just investigator. And I’m just making it clear that Fredrickson’s been on edge.”
“Why do you think that is?” The suspicion in his voice was clear.
“Probably because his wife of twenty-plus years is missing.”
“Think he had anything to do with it?”
The clouds started to clear from the overcast sky, letting the sunshine through. Holly smirked as she opened a compartment in her console and pulled out a pair of dark sunglasses. “You’ve asked me this already, Tarek. No. I don’t think he had anything to do with his wife’s disappearance. But I do think he’s closing in on his breaking point. He’s taking this hard.”
“Sometimes when people take things hard, it’s because of guilt.”
“I’ve looked into him, but you’re welcome to do so again. Just not to his face.” She glanced at him, cementing her warning with a stern look before sliding her sunglasses over her eyes.
“I’ll do that.” Jack reached into his interior jacket pocket to produce his own tinted glasses. “Why go into investigating instead of police work?”
She was a bit thrown by the change of subject and took a few moments to answer. “I considered a lot of options when I left the Army. The private sector seemed to be the best fit for me at the time. I wanted to use my skills to help people, but I wanted to do so on my own terms.”
“And now? Are you happy with what you’re doing?”
She considered his question. “I spent an awful long time trying to keep my team alive in one volatile situation after another. Some people are cut out for that kind of responsibility. I started to question if I was, and when you start to question yourself, you make mistakes. Mistakes could get someone hurt—or dead—so it was time to leave. Now, I’m right back there—being responsible for people who could be put in dangerous situations. At least now, the situations are fewer and much further between.”
“Are you questioning your abilities now?”
“No.”
Despite her firm and instant answer, he pushed. “You sure?”
She scowled before answering. “I’m a strong leader, but having that weight day in and day out can be a hell of a curse. When I came back, I decided to go into business for myself. I started out wanting to do private security, but there isn’t much call for that when you are of the female persuasion. Most people—men in particular—don’t think women are capable of protecting them. Before long, I was doing investigative work, but I needed help, so I brought on my old friends Eva and Alexa. Rene walked in one day last year, on a whim she said. But she fit. We brought on Tika and Sam to help with the admin side of things a few months ago. Tika is a natural at reading people and helping with investigations. Sam…well, you met Sam.”
He chuckled. “Yeah. I met Sam.”
“She’s smart as a whip on the research end of things. Seriously lacking on the common-sense side. Now I have a whole team to look out for. Again.”
Jack sat quietly, as if processing everything she’d said, before rapping his knuckles on the dash. “HEARTS. Holly, Eva, Alexa, Rene, Tika, and Sam. It’s an acronym. I didn’t get it until now.”
She turned down a tree-lined street, leaving the small brick buildings that had stood for decades. The houses on either side of the street were small but had large yards, indicating they’d been built before the city population had grown. In a few blocks, the yards would get smaller and the houses larger.
“Not my idea,” Holly said, “and trust me, I was not thrilled when it passed the vote. As people come and go…well, we can’t keep changing the name. But in my attempt to not feel solely responsible for them, I insisted we all be equal and come up with a name to reflect that. After some brainstorming, Austin Investigative Services became HEARTS. It seems so…feminine.”
“God forbid a business owned and operated by women exude any kind of femininity.”
She glanced at him, not at all surprised that he didn’t see how having a team solely comprised of women could be seen negatively by some clients. “We aren’t hired to be feminine. We’re hired to find missing family members or clear people’s names when accused of crimes or catch people cheating the system.”
“Spy on philandering husbands?”
“Unfortunately, that accounts for a huge number of cases we see. So, yes, spy on cheating spouses. Women commit adultery, too. Those cases are pretty easy to wrap up. Most people distracted by the possibility of sex don’t see much else around them.” Once again, she’d said something that could be misconstrued. She glanced at him before clearing her throat and returning her focus to the road. “Overall, we work the cases where we feel we can offer the most help.”
“Well, that’s not true.”
She pulled up to a stop sign and took the opportunity to give him more than a passing glance. “What does that mean?”
“This is hardly a decades-old cold case that no one is looking into now. You took this on because Fredrickson was feeling lost and, as you pointed out earlier, needed to hang on to his last bit of hope. I mean, that is assuming you aren’t doing it just for the cash flow.”
She ground her teeth together before answering. “Of course not. We’re not shysters. We all work hard to solve our cases and make sure our clients are protected and taken care of.”
“I don’t doubt that.”
“Every one of us—”
“Holly,” he stated. “I believe you’re a good PI
. You don’t have to prove it to me.”
She pressed her lips closed. “Sorry. Let me take the lead when we get in here,” she said as she parked behind a trailer with the ramps down. A man in a dark-green, long-sleeved uniform rode a mower across the Fredricksons’ front yard while another trimmed the box bushes along the front. The way the sun was beating down, she thought they had to be burning up in those uniforms, even though they were likely made of cotton.
“Lawn care when the wife is missing?” Jack asked as he removed his sunglasses.
Holly released her seat belt. “The grass doesn’t stop growing for our personal convenience, Jack.” She tucked her glasses back into the compartment so she knew exactly where they would be waiting for her. “Listen, Eric Fredrickson is in a bad place right now. Take it easy in there.”
“Sure thing.”
Holly stopped at the sidewalk, waiting for Jack to join her so they could walk as a united front to the door. If Eric peered out the window, she didn’t want him to have any doubt that she was working with the man at her side. He’d expressed his frustration with the police more than once, but she needed him to trust Jack. If she took too strong of a lead or fell too far in the back as they approached the house, Eric might read more into it.
As Jack joined her, he jerked his chin toward the house. “You’ve got an admirer.”
Holly glanced back in time to see the man who had been tending to the box bushes lower his face and turn away. “Aw, honey,” she said with sarcastic sweetness, “don’t be jealous. He might have been looking at you.”
Jack chuckled as he followed her to the house and, when they reached the front door, stood with his hands on his hips.
“Stand down, Detective,” she ordered after knocking.
“What?”
“Ease up on that defensive cop pose you have going. He’s already frustrated with the police. Let’s not add to his agitation.”
He looked down before heaving a sigh and shaking the tension from his shoulders. “Sorry. Habit.”
“And it’s a good habit, but he’s a client, not a suspect. Lighten up.”
“Yeah. I’m going to take pointers from you on lightening up.” He snickered at his own joke.
She cocked her brow, opened her mouth, and then clamped her lips shut as the door opened. Every time she saw this man, the distress in his eyes seemed to have grown tenfold from the last. Her heart ached for the pain she saw plainly written on his face. “Mr. Fredrickson,” she said softly, “thank you for letting us drop by on such short notice.”
“No problem,” he said to Holly, but his attention fell on the man beside her.
She gestured to Jack. “This is Detective Tarek. I told you about him on the phone.”
“You have another case like Julia’s?”
Jack nodded. “I’m afraid so. I know you’ve been through this what probably seems like a hundred times, but I’d like to hear what happened from you.”
Mr. Fredrickson stepped aside, and Holly entered a living room that reminded her of a magazine cover. The cool blues and grays stood out against the white trim and crown molding, and everything seemed to have a place. Fredrickson gestured to the gray cloth sofa, and Holly sat. Jack took a moment to finish assessing their surroundings before easing onto the sofa. She would have chastised him, but that was actually a smart thing to do. Walking into someone’s home, even someone she trusted, could always pose a danger. She had come to trust this family, but she could understand that Jack was being cautious.
Fredrickson dropped into a chair across from Holly. “I can’t really tell you anything that I haven’t already.”
“That’s okay.” Holly’s tone was firm but understanding. She was familiar enough with the man to know how to handle him. She wasn’t exactly submissive, but she intentionally eased up on her usual assertiveness. “Detective Tarek may think of something no one else has. Tell us about the last time you saw your wife,” she coaxed.
He exhaled loudly. Leaning forward, he planted his elbows on his knees and gripped his hands together. He blinked several times before meeting Jack’s gaze, but he quickly looked at his hands again. “I woke up late. I was pissed that I wasn’t going to have time to shower before heading out to work. I was short with her. It wasn’t her fault, but I snapped at her anyway. It wasn’t until after my first meeting, around eleven, that I calmed down enough to realize I’d been an ass. I called to apologize. She didn’t answer.” He glanced at Jack and then lowered his face. Clearly he was still struggling with the guilt he felt that the last moments he’d spent with Julia had been filled with anger. “I tried again before leaving work at about six. I was going to offer to take her out to dinner, but she still didn’t answer. I thought she must have really been pissed at me, so I stopped and bought some roses on the way home. The police have the receipt. I guess they needed proof I was where I said.” Lifting his gaze, he once again looked at Jack.
Holly did as well.
The detective nodded and appeared sympathetic on the surface, but Holly saw through the act. He was filing away clues, trying to pin this entire thing on the man sitting across from them.
“Anyway,” Fredrickson said, “I got home, and she wasn’t here. I thought she was still blowing off steam. Making a point or something. So I reheated leftovers and watched some TV. By nine, I started getting worried. I started making calls, but no one had seen her. I called the cops around midnight.” He stared at his hands as he shook his head. “I should have known something was wrong the first time she didn’t answer. She doesn’t hold grudges like that. She would have answered and told me I had been an asshole and then let it go. I should have known.”
Jack gave him the standard reply. “This isn’t your fault.”
“So I’ve been told.”
“She was taken from a grocery store. Is that the store she usually shopped at?”
“Yeah. And she always went on Tuesday mornings. She said there were never lines on Tuesday mornings, and she volunteers pretty much every other morning. Kids and animals,” he said with a slight smile. “She thought they were the last innocent things in the world.”
“Tuesday?” Jack glanced at Holly. “She only shopped on Tuesdays?”
The spark in his eye let her know that something had fallen into place for him. She had missed something. Goddamn it. She wanted to know what but wasn’t about to ask in front of her client.
“Yeah. She walked dogs at the shelter in the morning and then went to the grocery store. Every Tuesday.”
Jack returned his focus to Fredrickson. “She was familiar with the surroundings, then?”
Fredrickson nodded. “Yeah. We’ve lived in this house for eight years. That’s the only grocery store she shops at. She says they have the best produce.”
“So if she were agitated or nervous, do you think the staff at that store would notice?”
He shrugged. “They might.”
Jack made another note, and Holly’s heart dropped to her stomach. What had she missed? Tuesday at the grocery store? Clearly that was important, but she couldn’t put her finger on why.
“Did you watch the security video?” Jack asked. “Did the man who took her look at all familiar?”
Holly lifted her hands when fury flashed in her client’s eyes. Shit. She should have warned Jack about this particular trigger. Using her most soothing tone, she said, “It’s just something we have to eliminate.”
Fredrickson jumped to his feet, pointing his finger at her. “I told you Julia didn’t leave me. She wasn’t cheating on me.”
Holly stood as well, her legs shoulder-width apart with her left hand up and her right hand low—not on her gun, but she was ready to reach for her holster if necessary. Not that it would be, but her training overrode her knowledge that Eric Fredrickson wasn’t a threat. “That’s not what he’s implying.”
“The hell it isn’t,” Fredrickson boomed as he took a step toward her.
Jack bolted to his feet and put himself between F
redrickson and Holly with his right hand closer to his gun. Jack took the same position Holly had taken, but he was clearly more on edge than she was. She stepped to the right, and as soon as Fredrickson’s gaze followed her, Jack again placed himself between them.
What the fuck?
“Ms. Austin has made it clear to me your wife isn’t suspected of adultery,” Jack said, using the kind of sympathetic tone a hostage negotiator would use to diffuse a volatile situation, “but that isn’t the only reason she could have gone with him. He could have been a friend or an associate. We just have to consider whether she may have known him, as that might lead us to figuring out who he is. One way to figure out whether she might have known him is to ask if you recognize him.”
Fredrickson stared at him for another moment before backing down. “I didn’t recognize him.” He ran his hand over his hair. “Look. I don’t know anything. I wasn’t there when she was taken. I haven’t heard from her since I left home that morning.” He looked over Jack’s shoulder at Holly, but this time his eyes were filled with sadness. “Where is my wife?”
“We’re doing everything—”
“Don’t give me that shit,” he demanded. “You sound like the cops. I hired you to find Julia. Now…” Gesturing toward Jack, he narrowed his eyes. “Now there’s someone else missing. Clearly you think this is tied to Julia’s disappearance somehow, or he wouldn’t be here. What the fuck is going on?”
Holly held her breath, preparing to dance around the truth.
Eric licked his lips and took a long breath before saying much more calmly, “Tell me what you’re thinking. I’m paying you to tell me.”
Her stomach twisted with the stress of what she had to admit. “Mr. Fredrickson. Often in cases like this, where there’s been a second victim…it’s because the first victim has perished.”
She kept her voice gentle, a balm against her words. Even so, Fredrickson flinched like he’d been punched.
